A rig made up of three 18-wheelers - 200 wheels total - had to be made to move the two-story-tall piece of granite from its original location in Riverside to the museum in West LA, a total of 106 miles. It took months for Emmert International, a company that specializes in heavy hauling, to obtain permits for transport through 22 cities to its destination.

The rig traveled 8 mph and was so wide it took up three lanes on a freeway.

LACMA Rock Makes an Unscheduled Stop

The rock's roll to Carson wasn't smooth - first getting tangled in some pine trees, then struggling to make a turn. Cary Berglund talks to rock gawkers, who said the trials were a blessing in disguise.

(Published Friday, March 9, 2012)

The journey was expected to take 11 days. The granite, one of the largest monoliths moved since ancient times, will be installed on the lawn behind LACMA's Resnick Pavilion.

Visitors to the museum will be able to walk in a trench to see the rock from underneath.

LACMA's new boulder was part of a bigger project decades in the making. Heizer, 67, conceived the idea in the late 1960s, but failed to find the appropriate rock.

Rock Fans: Viewer Images

The rock has generated a lot of buzz. You too can follow the trials and tribulations of the giant slab: